Manchester United aim to become the first team to beat Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea in the Premier League this season on Saturday afternoon.

So far the Blues have beaten Huddersfield Town, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Cardiff City and Southampton whilst being held by West Ham United and Liverpool to leave them level on points with Manchester City at the top of the table.

In doing so the west London outfit have earned plaudits for their style of play under the Italian tactician.

Gone is Antonio Conte's negative approach which was beginning to frustrate fans during the final months of his reign and in its place is attacking football which is making the Blues one of the most eye-catching teams in the division.

"What they're doing and this all comes about with the players that don't have the ball, they're creating extra time and space for the player on the ball," Higginbotham said on the Sky Sports debate show. "If the man in possession has an extra two or three seconds on the ball he's got more time and more opportunity to make the right pass.

"We talk about players like Kovacic, like Kante and Barkley, we're not used to seeing Kante flying forward, we're not used to seeing Kovacic flying forward, we are with Barkley. But with those two players either side of Jorginho, they're driving opposition players back and that means that Jorginho, playing as a deeply lying playmaker, he's got extra time and space on the ball.

"And when they are going forward, if there is a transition when the opposition wins the ball back, there's no real threat of a counter attack because you've already got two midfielders up there that are going to start the press from the front."

Read More

"The movement is exceptional, you've not always got the same movement, you've got different movement all over the pitch," Schwarzer added.

"When you play at a lesser club, Danny was at Stoke, when you had the ball, how many options would you have had on the ball? Maybe two or three and within a split second two of those options are gone and you've only got one and another half a second later that option's gone.

"At a club like Chelsea, Manchester City, one of the big guns, there are five, six seven options and one may disappear, another one appears, there are always options reappearing because of the movement those players are making."

Read More

Summer signing from Napoli Jorginho is a key cog in the Chelsea engine room.

The Italy international has been regarded as the main reason behind the team's change in style having completed more passes than any player in the Premier League this season.

How Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho plans to stop the 26-year-old at Stamford Bridge on Saturday will be a fascinating watch, but Higginbotham has warned the Portuguese tactician of the issues coming his way when it comes to Jorginho.

"Prime example, you go back to the Arsenal game at home, early on they think 'ok we'll let Jorginho have the ball and we'll take care of the runners'," Higginbotham added. "They gave him time and space on the ball and he played the ball through to Alonso and he set up the opening goal I think.

"So then Arsenal decided 'we've got to press Jorginho' so they went and pressed Jorginho and he's got that ability then to pick a pass in behind. so to a certain extent if you mark Jorginho you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Read More

"I think when you look at Man Utd when they go to Chelsea do they look to man mark Jorginho, do they say to one of the forward players, 'the second we lose the ball we go after Jorginho', do they man mark Hazard?

"These are the things they've got to look at because when you've got a deep lying playmaker and Hazard up the other end, that disables United."

Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android .